I could not be happier to
welcome, actually, not even happy, more delighted to welcome Emmy
winner, Tony award winner, and at 2021 golden globe
nominee James Corden. Lovely. And how are you? It's so
nice to see you. How are you doing? So good? I was, I was actually just so pleased
reading about your career, preparing for our little talk this
morning and realize, I didn't know, until I was doing all
this research on you, that you have won 10 Emmys already. Yeah, no, I know it's it's I I'm
equally as shocked as you are. That's the truth. All in the same place.
Do you have them all? Um, you know what? I don't put,
I keep them all in a cupboard. I hide them all away because I don't, I don't know that it's necessarily
good for me to see them every day and think, ah, look at me like, I think
that's where you can come unstuck. If you start to think you're a bit more
of a dude than you really are. So I, uh, they're all in a cupboard at work and one day, I guess I'll look and
take them out and look at them, but right now I think it's better
to always just try and look forward. I think. Wow, that's so interesting. You know, you've said that you
are on a life long quest to make your audience happy. And before I read that or heard that, um, I could feel that in your
show, I mean, you know, we share this in common
doing a daily show and the thing about a daily show, you're
only as good as the last show. So it doesn't matter that you had the
greatest guest, you know, two weeks ago, you know, Tom Cruise can come and jump
on your sofa as was the case for me, but you still got Wednesday. What
you're going to do Wednesday because, and then Thursday's coming. But I can say that one of the
reasons we were number one for 25 years straight is because we, I, I intentionally sat with
the producers talking about on a daily basis before
every show. And after every show, how do we use the show as a
force for good in the world? And I think that the
audience could feel that. And I can tell you that whether you have
those conversations or not with your producers, I can feel that your
intention is to make us feel happier. Your intention is to delight us. That's so lovely that you would
see that intention because we, we have always talked about just
joy, really joy being the currency. Joy is the choice. The thing we
just want as best we can to be a, you know, a slice of light,
if you like a bit of levity, whether they, whether people are watching
it when it's on TV, you know, in the, in the middle of the night or when they
find it on their phone, the next day, that's all we ever really wants
to do is for it to be as joyful as possible. Um, particularly in
this last year where I don't know, I've really felt very
concerned that the, the, the, the amount of our audience that are
watching the show on their own and don't have that massive, uh, human interaction. So let's be the let's
try and be the friend, the other side of this screen,
you know, and know that we're, that we're feeling
things at the same time. And we were going to try and pick
you up, whatever, whatever we can, that's always been our
journey. So coming from you, that means a great deal that you would,
that you would think that at that show, it really does. I think that I feel that, and I
think everybody else feels it, whether they've been able
to articulate it or not, but because I am so aligned
with intention and know that you don't get a result, unless the intention was there
for what we're feeling and seeing, uh, that it's actual spiritual law, that for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction.
And before there is even an action, there's an intention for that action. So that happens all the
time with everybody. So what you're looking at the
result, and we feel you every night, I love that you tell each
Carpool Karaoke guests, that they are in a safe
place before you film. Yeah, no, we do. We, we, we always
say, because I think when that, it really came from when
that idea started, which was, these were talking about the biggest stars
in the world who, you know, you know, so well, are, are never on their own,
always surrounded by people, makeup, artists, publicists, security,
guards, managers, you know, assistance, all of these people around
them. And here is a segment where we, we take all of those people away
and put them in a follow car. And it's just the two of us talking.
And I think when we first started, people were a bit like, "Oh, I don't know if I feel comfortable
doing this." And then once it became very successful, people would then come
with an element of nerves of like, Oh, these are doing well and all these things. And so we would just sit at
the start and I would just say, all we want from this is
for you to just shine so bright. We want you to look great
and feel great. And in truth, all your, your work in day for the
next hour and a half or two hours, or however long we're shooting
for is to have a great time. And if you have a great time,
then this will be great. And anything at the end of this
shoot, if you say, "Oh, that bit, I'm not sure I want people
to know that" it's gone. We're never going to be the show
that goes, "well, you said it, and it's good for our ratings." If we, we want you to feel as comfortable as
possible that we're in this together as a collaboration. And that's, I think that's really been part of the
success of it really is people feeling at ease to talk freely, to be as
stupid as possible. You know? Well, you, you know, what's so incredible about
it is it is and has become a cultural phenomenon. I mean, as many people watch
a carpool karaoke, uh, as, as, as watch the
Superbowl, I mean, it's it's, and I know that when you first started it, you certainly had no idea that that
was going to happen. It started why? Because? Well, it started because we were just
thinking of how to, how do we, you know, making these shows every day, like you
say, you really need your tent poles, that prop the show up really. And we had done a sketch
at home for a brilliant charity called Red Nose Day, which
is Comic Relief here in America. And we've done this charity, this sketch, which started with me in a car singing
Wham songs with George Michael, and this sketch loads of people watched
it, loads of people were involved in it. There was ex prime ministers
and Keira Knightley, and Paul McCartney and England soccer,
captains, and all these people. But the thing that people would really
talk about would be me singing this song with George Michael. And while
we were talking about the show, and we'd only just moved to Los Angeles
and all anyone talks about is the, is the traffic. Um, I think because
you can't talk about the weather, do you know what I mean? The weather
is the, what the weather is every day. So people go, Oh, how did you
come in? Do you come in on the 10? And then take the 6 and the 405 or. There was this great. I think Saturday
Night Live skit about that. Oh my God. Yes. We talked about the 405 being
backed up in the 101 and the, but yeah, that's what we do. So we were, we were like, I wonder if there's a sketch where I
pick up the biggest stars in the world and they helped me get to
work using the carpool lane. And then we came up with this name,
Carpool Karaoke, where we were like, well, this feels like it's great. And I naively thought loads
of people who want to do this. And then there's a little game we
can play actually with all of the, all of the people that
are watching all of it, all of the WW crew that are watching
this. Now, if everybody just in your head, you don't have to write this down.
Just think of a recording artist. Who's alive. Just think of,
uh, any recording artist. And if it has everybody got
one, everyone's got one. Okay. They said, no, and that
was it. Really? We just, there was just, everybody said
no to it. And then, I mean, God, God bless Mariah Carey for saying yes,
because she, if she hadn't said yes, I don't even know if our show would
have been on the air for more than three months. You know, she took a real
gamble on us and we will always, always love her for it. Yeah. Wow. That's funny. Everybody think of,
think of a name. Well, they said, no, that's really [inaudible]. Uh, but, and, and now, and now they don't
every now everybody wants to do it.
Vulnerability is something we don't
often consider when we think about , um, self-love , but really it's what opens us up to
lasting change. And for me, vulnerability
is being willing to express the truth,
no matter what, the truth of who you
are, the essence at your core, what
you're feeling at any given moment, being
able to share that with other people
who are worthy of your vulnerability, cause you don't just go opening
yourself up to everybody. Uh, even though I used to do that every day on the air, but I think one of the
reasons for the success of the Oprah
show all those years was my ability to
truly be myself, which is what we feel
from you every night. And you know, this
James, when you're able to do that, you opened a door to a higher truer expression of who
you're meant to be. And I recently was , uh, rewatching, uh, in preparation for today, the video
you shared when you announced that
you were joining WW, this to me
is the essence of vulnerability. I wanted to share with you, uh,
a decision that I've made. I've, um, I've realized that every
year for the past decade, probably even 15 years on January 1st, I've told myself and anyone that
would listen that this is it. This is the year I'm going on a diet.
I'm going to lose a load of weight. I'm fed up with the way I look, I'm fed
up with being unhealthy. And this is it. This is the year I'm doing it. And
because of that, I've over Christmas, eaten everything. That's in the
fridge because in my head in January, I'm starting this diet and it will be
a success. And as you can see, well, it hasn't. And so I contacted the
people at WW and I said, "Look, can you help me with
this?" I'm going to do it. I'm going to embark on this year of
health because I absolutely believe that they have the tools in place to make this the year that I
really do make this change. Wow. You know, you don't often
hear men open up like that. And that was, I could
feel the purity of that. And I know you feel that weight loss is
a different experience for men than it is for women. How so? Um, well I think because if, I'm sorry, I just
even watching that video, it makes me feel quite emotional
if I'm honest, because I really have felt that every year I
really have had that feeling of like, it's the definition of madness
really isn't it. So just keep, keep doing the same thing over and
over and over and expecting different results, which is never going
to happen. And so I do think as an, as a man it's historically seen as it isn't very sexy to say
that you're on a diet or it's not very manly
somehow to want to make changes in your own health
because men drink beer and we go out and it doesn't matter what
you look like, all those things. And I actually think, I think it's the single most
positive and sexy thing you can do to stay. I would like
to be a bit healthier. I would like to be a healthier
presence in my family, for my children. I would
like to feel better. And I think what I
realized my biggest issue, my biggest problem has been, I've constantly gone
on diets and I've seen them as diets and the diets
that we've all done. You know, a shake in the morning, a shake in the
evening, all of that nonsense in between. And they can have a, for me, they've had a short term impact
where I may have lost 10 pounds in, I don't know, a month. And
then two months after that, I'm 20 pounds heavier than I
was at the start of that thing. And what I realized is that this is, there is no quick fix to this. This is a journey I have to go on where
I have to change my relationship with foods and change the way
that I consume food. And I don't have to starve
myself of all of these things that I love and enjoy. What I have to do is be more accountable
for what I'm putting in my body and think more about that every day. And I have to say, I found this past, I
started on January 2nd. So yeah, I've found this
past five or so weeks, incredibly transformative
for me, I've really, really enjoyed it in a way that I've
never felt enjoyed a diet before really. And part of that feels like, I think because I wanted to
put that video out there, maybe in it subconsciously
to make me really do it. I found it a lot easier than I thought. And a lot of that is genuinely down to think is what I've realized is that
this isn't just connected to food, but in this sense, let's do that. As soon as you open yourself out to
people and say, this is how I'm feeling. And I think I'm on, I might
be struggling with this. You will be met by a wave of
people going, how can I help? Whereas if I hold on to those
things and I'm, you know, eating stuff out of
the fridge at midnight, and then feeling rubbish
about it, then, then it's, then it's you're never going to get that
support unless you sort of ask for it. My wife has been incredible in
this, in my whole journey with food. She's been really, really
amazing with me and I, and I've really found this past five
weeks. Like I'm on the start of, uh, I'm on the start of a journey
that I'm determined to finish. And I feel that I can. Am I talking too much? Have
you all disappeared? No, no. I love that. So
you said to our producers, everybody's like applauding and I saw
some amens in the corner there from Alison, thank you all for putting,
for showing the love here, uh, to James. Cause we've all felt this, we have all felt that this is going to
be the year Monday's going to be the day and year after year. You're telling yourself the same thing
and it's the cabbage soup and it's the military diet and it's the
green shakes. And it's the, the, and the, the thing that we all here
love about WW is it's really not a diet. As Kim was saying, it's a shift in the way you
see your relationship with food and it's there to help keep you on track. So how has it been different
for you this year than every other year that you've
made that promise to yourself? Well, because I'm not
kind of going "Right, that's it, I'm on a diet.
So, um, breads gone. Carbohydrate, gone. Chocolate
gone everything gone, I will now only eat this, this disgusting thing." And
it is disgusting quinoa, awful thing. And then, and, and it doesn't work for me. It
doesn't work for me. So, um, it was my wife's birthday.
Uh, about a week ago, a week ago yesterday, it was my wife's birthday
and we decided let's get take out. And we got to take away. We got to take out from
our favorite restaurant. And I knew that we were
getting this takeout. So I planned what I was
eating that day accordingly. And I had a really good meal. I
didn't eat the dessert or anything, but I had, you know, it was a
good, it was a meal. I would order, regardless of whether I was on this diet. And then the next day I picked up where
I was and I carried on and I sort of went slightly over my points,
but not to a point where I went nuts. And historically I've always
been either on a diet or I'm off a diet. So it's soon as I have broken. I don't know if people
would associate with this, but as soon as I've broken that chain,
I would use that as an excuse and go, "Oh, well, I've, I've done
that. Now I've broken the diet. So I might as well eat this pint of ice
cream and go and get a burger because it's done now it's broken. See who am
I? I did it. I thought I could do it. And I can't. So now I'm done." And
actually what I've realized is no, no, no. It's not really wanting to talk to myself
with a third person, but I, you know, have had some long
conversations with myself, embarrassed before where sometimes
I go, is this what it's going to be? Are you going to look like this
forever? And some days I go, Oh, I'm going to talk to you today.
And other days I think, yeah, okay, let's make a change. And what I realized is you can't
break this and not because this is it. This is what we're doing. And
so this is what I'm doing. And I'm going to think every single
time I've put food into my body, I'm going to be aware of
what it is. And I feel very, very smug when I'm in like
the break room at work. And I use the scanner on the, on the app because I was actually
in the break room the other day. And I used to always eat these bars
at work that I thought were healthy Oprah. And they looked healthy. They
presented themselves as healthy. If I'm honest, they told me in their
packaging that this is a health food snack. So I'm in there the other day and I was
kind of hungry and I'd forgotten my, like, I really love the, the
baked protein bar, the WW protein, but I'd forgotten to bring it with
me. So I went in and I thought, well, I'll eat one of those bars. That's
a similar protein bar. I scanned it, 11 points. I was gobsmacked. I was eating two of these a day that I
might as well have been eating a Mars bar. It's ridiculous. So it's just
made me more aware of it all, you know? Yes, yes. That's exactly what
WW is all about is, uh, is, is the consciousness is making yourself
more aware of what you're eating and taking responsibility for that. And
so have you, have you seen success? Yeah. I've lost 16 pounds.
I've lost 16 pounds. Um, yeah. Yeah. And I've been doing some exercise, um, which I hate, I just can't bear
it. So I I'm using the word hates. I just, I, I but, my
wife is so good at it. You know, my wife is actually planning
a little circuit for us after this, so we do it together and
we do some weights and these little runs and I
moan about it constantly. And then I have to begrudgingly say
later that afternoon that I do feel better about myself and that's
what we're doing, but again, it's about support. So
yeah. That's all right. Do a bit of that at the
very least. We'll take it. We'll just take a walk together,
which is really lovely for us. It's it does not, you know, and that's
what we'll try and do. Is that really? But yeah, I'm down 16 pounds down. 16. Go-to yeah. Aside from those bars now, do you have a favorite go to WW meal? What comfort? There's so many. There's this there's
anybody done? Have you done on? I I've been telling
the people at WW Oprah, and I'll tell you they should be,
this should be out and sold as a kit. They this, um, there's a great recipe
and it's really, it's really quite easy. It sounds complicated, but I promise you it's quite
easy for a chick pea pizza, which I think WW should be selling as
a chick pizza. And if you don't do it, I will. And you know, you'll
Rue the day that you didn't, but it's a chick pea base with a little
marinara sauce and then not too much cheese. And then we put like broccoli
and red onion and stuff on it. And just last Sunday, cause
it was the super bowl. The kids wanted to order pizza,
which for me is just a nightmare. Like it's enough for me to just go
and sit in the car while they eat it. Because I just, can't not pick. One. Slice is one, one good
slice is 10 points. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But that would be all right.
If I could eat one good slice, but I'm I considered one good pizza. So I, so me and Jules said, well,
why don't we do this chick pea pizza? Oh, my word, it was sensational. I urge anybody to search out that recipe. Cause you can also make the base like
the day before and then keep it in the fridge and then it will go kind of
hard-ish and then you can make it up. And we did it with the kids and they
had a like pizza from the delivery place and me and Jules ate
this and it was amazing. I felt so smug about myself. I love that smug feeling.
Okay. Let's do a speed round. What's the last show you binge watched. Properly binge watch.
I'm watching too. Oh, well funny binge watch is a show
called normal people on Hulu, but that's been out a while now, but there's also a French show
on Netflix called call my agent, which I find really funny.
I'm enjoying that a lot. Okay. Who's your dream
Carpool Karaoke passenger? Oh, wow. Um, it's really, it
has to be Beyonce, doesn't it? I think. Oh yes. Oh my God. You will break the internet. We'll see. I don't. Know. I don't know if the internet
could exist after that. Okay. What book is on your nightstand right now? Oh, it's right next to me. You'd
like this book, Oprah. Actually, this is the book I've been
reading. It's called "Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity."
It's by Scott Galloway. Who's a brilliant author. And it's just about essentially
how the world will be different. Now. We've all. Even if we don't fully realize it, we've gone through this
and changed in some way and what are we going to do about that? And I'm really enjoying actually
about a third of the way. Speaking of that, what is the first place you want to
travel when it's safe again to do so? Oh, well I'd love to go and see my
mum and dad. So it would always be, it would always be London for me. We're
so used to them being out here for, they would often come twice a
year for a month at a time. Um, and they are missing our
children so much and our children are missing over their
grandparents. So it would be there, but they are all my family are on WW.
Now, did you know this? My sisters, my sisters are on it and they're
doing great. My parents are on it. They have. Cause I used to go with
my mum to formerly weight Watchers meetings when
I was like 11 or 12. And it's the only thing
that's ever worked for my mum. And she's always
struggled with her weight. So my sisters and my mum and dad
because of the time difference. We can't ever be there every three weeks. They do a zoom WW weigh in
and they clap for each other. If they're done well, they're properly
in it now. It's terrific. Yeah. Yeah. This lifestyle's better when you share it. So I've heard you say that the
pandemic brought you and your family closer together. What, is there a new hobby that you
discovered during the pandemic? Um, there's a new hobby
I've got, which is, uh, I just hiding in the bathroom
to just read and write emails. That's my new hobby. I'm just, just got a get to the bathroom kids.
And I could be in there for 40 minutes. Um, just reading and writing
emails. Uh, no, that's, we've I tell you the thing
that we've really enjoyed, which always feels slightly strange saying
that during such a turbulent time is because, because we haven't
had guests on our show, we tape our show earlier now. So I get back every
night for kind of what we call winding downtime in our
house, which is books and talks. And we, that is something I've really, really loved so
much is sitting with our children and talking with them and
about everything that's been going on. It's probably that really is, it's a miracle that my
wife hasn't killed me or, or left me during this
time. Let's be honest. Who wants to walk a mile in her shoes, but she really does hold our whole
family together. And it's, um, it's really, it's been a, it's
been a challenge for everybody, but I will say like since joining, starting this WW and being
on the app and stuff, and I get loads of messages from people
saying that this isn't you, it's not me. And I promise you, it is. I'm right
there. I'm right there with you. And uh, if you ever want to have a chat about
anything, I'll be, I'll be right there. And I really do feel like I've, I've joined something,
which the benefit of my, for my life and my family is going to
be monumental because I already feel it, you know? Wow. That's so great. It's great to
speaking of chatting with everybody, it's great to connect with you today. It's great to have this glorious and uh, thank you so much for being so open, so vulnerable for sharing your truth
in a way that we are all aiming to. We know it, we feel it we've been there and thank
you for being on this journey with us. Thanks. Oh, it's such a pleasure. I can't tell you what a
pleasure and an honor it is to, to just be in your orbit
Oprah for a minute, but like to be with all these
people who, who I have so much, uh, so much respect for because
we're all of us told that this is easy. We're all of us told somehow
somewhere by somebody in our lives to just pull ourselves together
and Oh, well just don't eat that. What are you doing? And,
and it, isn't, it's really, really hard. It's really, really
hard. But like being here, doing this, checking in with
each other, being aware of it, um, you know, we can make those changes and then
inspire some other people to make those changes. And we'll never ever be those people
that go well, it was really easy. I lost all this weight and it was so
easy. It isn't, it's really difficult, but I'm right there with you. And I
know that you're right there with me. I know, you know, in a year's time
we're all going to be so ripped. We're all going to be so ripped.
Oprah it's going to be crazy. I'll be sitting here with a shirt
off, just I'll be like the Rock. Okay. Let's. Do it again. Let's do it again. When
you reach goal, do you have a goal? Do you have a goal or are you just doing
moving until you feel like you're in the right body for yourself? I've gained so much weight.
You know, I used to be, I was seven pounds, eight ounces. Um, and ever since then, I've just
gained weight and gained weight. Now I'd really like to experience a day, just one day underneath
200 pounds. That's my plan. But like when I met my
wife, I was about 280. And when I started this on WW, I was 236. I'm now like 220. And I would really love to
experience a day underneath 200 pounds. I'd like to be the weight that
Ciara was when she started the diet. That would be a dream for me. Hey, you gotta say you got,
you got you. Can't say, I just want to be there for a day.
You've got to experience the shift, the paradigm. And I'll just sit around. It. I'll be two, I'll be one nine, four. I'll be cause I'm. Cause I know that I know that
this program that I'm on now, I know the way that I'm eating
that I can sustain this. So I really just want to
try and push this off. And then I'm certain that
when I get to that weight, I'll still look in the
mirror and think, Hmm. Since you lost 16. You said you were at 226
and you now have two 20. You must've been at 236 when you started. Well, I was 236 and now I'm 220. Yeah. And then yeah. So I'm really, really gonna try and
keep going on this. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you so much. We
love talking to you today. Um, I enjoyed it so much, you know, when I was there and I asked
you about your children, the dream that you had for your
children, uh, and you, you know, jokingly started to tear up, what
is that dream that you still hold? Oh man, I really liked them to be happy. I'd like them to be happy, good people. That's that's my dream. More than anything else
really is them to just find whatever it is in this world
that makes them happy and do that. And, uh, that, that would be the best thing that I
think has that I could ever wish for for them, because I think all the other stuff is
irrelevant really after that. So I'd really love them to be, to be happy and find the thing
that they're good at and, and run with it and never give up on
that. You know, that's what I've really, really loved. I wasn't joking. When you
made me cry, I was genuinely serious. You have this crazy gift. And uh, I
mean, even just talking to you now, I can't believe it. So it's, it's, it's always a joy to be in your
orbit. It really, really is. And what you're doing here, because you spend so much of this time
talking about other people and asking questions about other people, what
you're doing here, you doing this, you being part of this right
now, still stay in, checking in. And whether it be out on the road, which I hope one day so much
you get to do again. Uh, but doing all this, you just don't know
what it means to, to people. You really, really don't. You don't know how much it means to all of
us. I mean that truly. Thank you, James Corden, and thank
you. Have a beautiful Saturday.
